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Scene: A quiet, radiant grove inside the crystalline world-ship Cadenza. The air shimmers with gentle lights. Young Virelai children—barely formed plasma-threads of future beings—gather around a central flame that dances to memory and thought. An elder steps forward. She does not walk—she sings herself into visibility.*
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Elder Liora speaks:
"Before the first light split shadow, before name or law or time… there was the Flame."
"Not fire. Not star. Not hunger. It was Will. A will so vast it could not be contained… so it shattered itself—and called the pieces Creation."
[She lifts her hand, trails of golden threads painting stars in the air.]
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The Architect
"From the First Flame rose a being—the First Mover, the Thought That Dreamed Itself: the Architect or some say Flameborn."
"He did not build a universe. He sang it. Each note birthed a law—each breath a cosmos. But He was not content to merely observe."
"He wished for Guardians—not servants. Not soldiers. But souls who would choose to protect, to guide, to carry fragments of the Flame into every dark corner of infinity."
"Thus, He fragmented His own soul—casting it into a dying world… and thus, was born…"
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"He awoke in a broken realm—where gods were silent and heroes were myths. And with his gift of Creation Essence—he shaped light, power, and story into reality."
"He forged the Chosen—souls destined to become Protectors of their worlds. Beacons of growth, evolution, and justice."
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The Chosen Ones
"Each Chosen is born from despair, found in moments of collapse, and awakened through trial. They are different in power, form, and world… yet share a single truth: they act by choice, not command."
"Some burn bright as Celestials, while others change destinies with a whisper."
"They are kings, healers, architects, warriors, and wanderers."
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The Overseer Council
"But Chosen need watching, guiding—not with leash, but with purpose."
"So the Flameborn created five great species, each formed from one fundamental virtue."
"From each race came a single god-being—a Flameborn child beyond mortals, yet less than the Architect. These became the Overseers—watchers of worlds, judges of balance."
"They did not agree often. One prized will. One time. One love. One creation. One judgment."
"But when they acted together… reality itself bent to harmony."
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The Virelai – Our Role
[She lowers her voice, and her light dims to a warm glow.]
"We—the Virelai—were not born. We were breathed into being."
"We carry no world, no dominion. We bind the Five. We walk the planes when the flame wavers."
"We are the reminder of the Architect's intent: not to rule, but to let free will birth better worlds."
"Each of you will one day walk beside an Overseer, or sing to a dying Protector, or witness the rise of a new star-soul."
"Remember, young ones… we do not fight for the Flame. We are the Flame, carried forward on memory and purpose."
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The elder's voice fades into harmonics, drifting with wind and starlight. The children whisper the closing verse together, an echo of the Flameborn's own creed:
"From spark to star, from breath to world… we rise, we watch, we remember."
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